The thousands of people who work for the main agency of the American government for humanitarian aid and help in the event of a disaster have been on the front line of efforts to fight against famine, contain virulent infectious diseases like HIV and Ebola, and Reconstruct infrastructure in the depleted and torn by the war.
On Friday evening, only a few hours before the vast majority of them were suspended with salary or licensee, a court made a temporary limited order against the Trump administration measures to close the agency.
The prescription was a temporary stay of around 2,700 direct hires of the American agency for international development which were on administrative leave or which should be placed on leave before midnight on Friday. In the past two weeks, they and the entrepreneurs who work for the agency had been plagued by collective panic when the Trump administration was starting to dismiss staff and reported that it was planning to decimate the agency.
But the workforce of the USAID, and the aid industry which is largely based on the financing of the agency, is still in the limbo. On Saturday, the USAID informed the employees affected by the prescription that the employees already on administrative leave would be restored until the end of Friday, February 14 and that no one else would be suspended with salary during this period, according to a copy In the opinion consulted by the New York Times. But these employees may still have to wait for weeks, months or potentially even longer for a verdict. The case, which has been submitted on behalf of the unions representing workers, should go to the Supreme Court, and it is not clear if the jobs will exist again.
The announcement of the Trump administration this week according to which the USAID would reject almost all its entrepreneurs and that most of the officers of the external service and other direct hires would be on indefinite administrative leave to panic worldwide, then that the Americans have published in the missions abroad have dismantled themselves to disentangle and go up their lives.
The announcement gave external service agents only 30 days to leave their posts and return to the United States if they wanted the US government to pay their resettlement, forcing almost all the diplomatic staff to plan the gender that ‘Normally only while during strokes and wars.
Many employees with children had to decide to remove them immediately from school or leave families behind the end of the school year. Some having medical conditions, including pregnancies at a late and high -risk stage, are worried about the traveling dangers and the state of their health care. Several agonized what to do with pets, because it was not possible to obtain the documents necessary to enter the United States in a few weeks.
USAID’s discounts seem to have been largely motivated by Elon Musk, the president of the Trump Trump technology magnate to make budget cuts across the government, and Pete Marocco, the Director of Foreign Aid of the Department of Department ‘State, which Mr. Rubio appointed this week to manage the daily affairs of the USAID
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who assumed the global authority of the USAID, tried to write fears, encouraging people to ask for derogations to delay trips and to argue that the Trump administration “n ‘ was not trying to disrupt people’s personal life ”.
But while the orders of arrest work and the agency’s massive cutting reports have crossed the World Aid industry, and dozens of non -governmental organizations and consulting companies that have relied on the Financing of the agency dismissed the staff, the workers of the agency prepared for its potential end.
An American posted in a mission from the USAID in Africa said that he and his wife, an external service agent, had both been suspended.
“Two weeks ago, we were two people with paid employment with assignments, and now we saw all the industry decimate and return to the United States unemployed,” he said.
Like many others, he spoke under the guise of anonymity, because those who are still on the agency’s pay have been invited not to discuss in progress in progress. Employees fear that the flouting of the order will compromise the advantages to which they could still be eligible, such as the pensions and the starting allowances – although it is not clear if the Trump administration would honor such obligations.
On Thursday, a subset of USAID employees began to receive opinions that they had been deemed “essential”, which means that they would not be suspended or dismissed – for the moment.
“This is your official notification that you must continue to work, with immediately effect and be informed otherwise,” said email notification, according to a copy examined by the New York Times.
It was not immediately clear how many employees had been deemed essential. On Thursday afternoon, the senior USAID leaders were informed that the Trump administration planned to reduce agency staff to around 290, according to three people informed directly from the call details. Friday morning, however, the senior agency officials were informed that the number of employees selected was 611, according to two people familiar with the internal directives.
Some have hypothesized that the number of people preserved could climb slightly higher, while office managers and managers fought to preserve as many positions as possible to continue the life’s rescue work.
Be that as it may, the reductions in a workforce of more than 10,000 have promised to be drastic.
“What is happening is devastating, it is difficult to put it in words, but it is devastating,” said Maria Carrasco, who had worked for the help agency or projects abroad that he had Funded for 25 years, she said, before being terminated with other entrepreneurs last week. “We are people who have sweated our perspiration and tears to these organizations, because we believe in the ultimate goal of helping people. And now it has been erased.
The moves against USAID workforce began seriously on January 28, four days after the establishment of arrest work orders.
Samantha Cooper, an entrepreneur whose employment was dismissed, worked in maternal and child health and nutrition at the aid agency, and was to start a new job last Monday at the HIV / AIDS office. In a few days, she went from participation in an important step to come and start joining the two ends.
“I have to deposit unemployment, which does not even cover the rent; Food coupons, which-that’s good, at least makes me grocery stores, “she said during a telephone interview. His medical coverage exhausted on Friday last week.
Ms. Cooper, who is based in Tulsa, Okla., Said she felt lucky than most.
“I have colleagues who cross IVF, and they have lost all their advantages; People who are going through cancer treatments and with parents in hospice-and they were family supporters, “she said. “I feel privileged to say that this is only what I am struggling with. I know that there are so many others that should face it, and it will literally break them. »»
It was the fear of an external service agent in Asia who discovered this week that an immediate family member needed to be evacuated for a potentially deadly state of health, to be informed by superiors than in the Dissolution of the USAID, there was no funding available for emergency medical trips. Their only option was said to be the officer, would be to return immediately to the United States, where they have nowhere to live and leave their property and their pets.
Another agent of external services working in a mission in Africa fought to how to announce the news to its two young children.
She also feared that she and her spouse, who also work in development, would experience savings that they hoped to put in a house if they soon found themselves unemployed.
“We just have the impression that the whole sector flows, and then how will I find a job?” She said, speaking under the cover of anonymity, like the others, for fear of reprisals. “All I know is development, all I know is public health – I have devoted my life to this. What other skills do I have?
The decimation of the USAID has sparked a domino effect, as entrepreneurs, non -governmental organizations and consulting firms which depend on the financing of the agency for their projects are also forced to make cuts. According to interaction, at least 10,000 American jobs in the sector have already disappeared, which represents a number of organizations specializing in foreign aid.
“This is the sector’s evisceration,” said Tom Hart, president and chief executive officer.
Employees of organizations and non -governmental companies relying on the financing of the USAID have declared that they had indeed been prevented from accessing any funding via the agency’s accounting system and, in some cases, had months expenses without guarantee that the federal government would reimburse them.
Resonance, a developing consulting company that employed around 150 people around the world, is an example of a small business that takes a big hit. The company did around 75% of its activities with USAID before the contraction. He has bills to return in November that the agency has not yet covered, said Steve Schmida, his co-founder, in an interview.
“We are obliged to carry a huge cost without clarity if and when we will be paid or reimbursed,” said Schmida, adding that he had to fire almost 90% of his American staff. He goes without salary for three months to help free funds to keep his business afloat, he said.
But while the news of the drastic staff reductions sets up, he lost hope that the government will never cover the funding that his business had been promised.
“It was a disaster,” he said about USAID cups, adding: “I think it’s to everyone that it’s over.”
Edward Wong contributed to Bangkok reports and Chris Cameron from Washington.
